A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 12 eBook

and incessant noise, and in a short time many large
canoes came down the lake to join them. Our boats
were still out, and the people on board them made
all the signs of friendship that they could invent,
upon which some of the canoes came through the inlet
and drew near them. We now began to hope that
a friendly intercourse might be established; but we
soon discovered that the Indians had no other design
than to haul the boats on shore: Many of them
leaped off the rocks, and swam to them; and one of
them got into that which belonged to the Tamar, and
in the twinkling of an eye seized a seaman’s
jacket, and jumping over board with it, never once
appeared above water till he was close in shore among
his companions. Another of them got hold of a
midshipman’s hat, but not knowing how to take
it off, he pulled it downward instead of lifting it
up so that the owner had time to prevent its being
taken away, otherwise it would probably have disappeared
as suddenly as the jacket. Our men bore all this
with much patience, and the Indians seemed to triumph
in their impunity.

[Footnote 37: “They were in much greater
number than at the other island, and followed us in
the same manner, several hundreds of them running
along the coast in great disorder.”—­“They
had many canoes, which, on our approaching the shore,
they dragged into the woods, and at the same time,
the women came with great stones in their hands to
assist the men in preventing our landing.”—­“We
had now 50 sick on board, to whom the land air, the
fruit and vegetables, that appeared so beautiful and
attractive, would doubtless have afforded immediate
relief.” It seems very probable, from the
conduct of these islanders, and of the others mentioned
in the next section, that some former visitants had
used them so ill, as to unite them in determined opposition
to the entrance of all strangers. Would it be
unfair to imagine, from a circumstance afterwards
narrated, that these visitants were Dutch? All
the seafaring nations of Europe, alas! are too deeply
implicated in the animosities and miseries of the
South Sea inhabitants.—­E.]

About noon, finding there was no anchorage here, I
bore away and steered along the shore to the westermost
point of the island: The boats immediately followed
us, and kept sounding close to the beach, but could
get no ground.

When we came to the westermost point of this island,
we saw another, bearing S.W. by W. about four leagues
distant. We were at this time about a league
beyond the inlet where we had left the natives, but
they were not satisfied with having got rid of us
quietly; for I now perceived two large double canoes
sailing after the ship, with about thirty men in each,
all armed after the manner of their country. The
boats were a good way to leeward of us, and the canoes
passing between the ship and the shore, seemed very
eagerly to give them chace. Upon this I made
the signal for the boats to speak with the canoes,